Sarah Favot

Reporter

Recent articles

Crime

A 23-year-old Tujunga man, an alleged flasher, was charged with indecent exposure and lewd conduct after exposing himself to two women, authorities announced today. Josque Alquisiras allegedly exposed his genitals to two women within the past week in an Eagle Rock neighborhood, according to L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer. He has been charged with two counts of indecent exposure and two counts of lewd conduct and is being held on $100,000 bail, Feuer said.The first alleged...

Police

Four Southern California police officers were among the 13 from across the country awarded the Medal of Valor this morning by President Barack Obama during a White House ceremony for risking their lives to save others. Los Angeles Police Department Officer Donald Thompson was recognized for rescuing an unconscious 72-year-old man...

Sentencing

Two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were sentenced Monday to more than a year in federal prison for falsifying reports involving a 2009 beating of a handcuffed inmate. U.S. District Court Judge Beverly Reid O’Connell sentenced Joey Aguiar to 18 months in prison and Mariano Ramirez to 13 months in prison. A federal jury convicted Aguiar, 29, and Ramirez, 40, in February of writing false reports with the intent to obstruct justice. The jury could not reach a...

Concerts

A portion of downtown Los Angeles turned a shade of purple Friday evening as devoted Prince fans wore the artist’s signature color and sang and danced.Thousands of fans came from all over the Southland to celebrate Prince, who died on April 21 at his Paisley Park estate in Minnesota. Many fans said they just wanted to be a part of the massive celebration. “We just want to honor his memory, his life and just be here with everybody,” said Michelle Centeno,...

Labor unions

Unionized janitors across the state approved a new collective bargaining agreement on Monday night, averting a strike. Service Employees International Union United Service Workers West members in Los Angeles County, Orange County and the Bay Area approved the new deal that covers wages and includes protocols for workers to report sexual harassment and assault, the union announced. The union membership had authorized a strike if negotiators were not able to reach a deal over the...

Labor unions

Hundreds of janitors and their supporters rallied in the streets of downtown Los Angeles on Friday demanding a new labor contract that pays higher wages and provides protections against sexual harassment. “Their wages are poverty wages. They’re not livable wages,” state Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, said in an interview as he linked arms with janitors on Grand Avenue. “They’re among the hardest workers we have in California,...

Trials

A county prosecutor Tuesday described a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy who is accused of beating three inmates as a “small man” who ruled a county jail with force, while the defense attorney said the force used was within department policy.The deputy, Jermaine Jackson, is charged with three counts of assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury, three counts of assault by a public officer and three counts of filing a false report related...

Trials

Jury selection began Monday in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom in the trial of a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy accused of beating three inmates and falsifying reports. Jermaine W. Jackson, who was a deputy at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility, faces nine counts of felony charges related to the alleged beatings of three inmates beginning in 2009. Jackson, 38, who wore a dark blue suit and tie, sat silently at the defense table, sometimes writing in a...

Wildlife

Two signs that spring is upon us -- the recent bear sightings in Sylmar and Duarte. The two young black bears came down from the mountains, and were eventually captured and returned to the wild after leading authorities on chases through neighborhoods. But these probably won’t be the last such appearances this year.Wildlife experts say bear sightings pick up in the spring and could last for the next five or six weeks until the summer heat slows the bears down.

Local governments

The abrupt resignation last month of Chief Medical Examiner-Coroner Dr. Mark Fajardo revealed flaws in Los Angeles County’s system of death investigations, through which some 8,500 autopsies are performed each year.Delayed medical examinations, overdue toxicology tests and slow response times were becoming an unacceptable norm, Fajardo said, noting he’d not been given the resources to alleviate many of the strains on the department. •RELATED...